THE 

CHURCHES 

OF 

CHRIST 

IN AMERICA 
AND FRANCE 





ClassIQ-^"^ 






^QEOUGHT DEPOSm 



The Churches of Christ 
in America and France 




Chaplains Monod and Lauga, with 
the President and General Secretar}^ of the Federal Council. 






* i ■ . - 



The Churches of Christ 
in America and France 




New York Chicago Toronto j 

i 



Fleming H. Revell Company 

London and Edinbceoh 



Copyright, 1918, b> 
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 



MV-'^'fi^ 



\\'" 



New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave, 
Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W. 
London: 21 Paternoster Square 
Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street 

MAY 18 1918 
©CI.A497443 



C 



I 



FOREWORD 

THIS book comprises the messages given 
at the Aldine Club, New York, on 
the evening of Tuesday, January 
twenty-second, nineteen hundred and eigh- 
teen, when a representative group of Ameri- 
can Christians gathered at the invitation of 
the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ 
in America to bid farewell to Captain 
Georges F. Lauga and Captain A. E. Victor 
Monod, Chaplains in the French Army, the 
official representatives sent by the French 
Protestant Federation of Churches to express 
the fellowship and appreciation of the French 
Protestant Christians to their brethren in 
America. Immediately upon their arrival in 
November, 1917, they began a tour through 
the country, speaking before churches, minis- 
terial associations, civic leagues and universi- 
ties, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast, 
and from New England to Texas. The wel- 
come they received was spontaneous and their 
furlough was too brief to include all the cities 

5 



6 FOREWORD 

giving them invitation. In Denver Captain 
Lauga became critically ill as the direct result 
of the strain of trench-life but with expert 
medical care recovered and the tour was fin- 
ished without further mishap. Both in New 
York and Philadelphia the Chaplains took 
part in the celebration of the Four Hun- 
dredth Anniversary of the Protestant Refor- 
mation. 

On the day following the farewell gather- 
ing at the Aldine Club, Captain Monod and 
Captain Lauga sailed for France to join their 
regiments in the trenches. As we go to press, 
a cable from Paris announces their safe ar- 
rival. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Invocation 9 

Rev. Albert G. Lawson, Chairman of the 
Administrative Committee of the Federal 

Council of the Churches of Christ in 

America. 

II. Introduction of the Delegates 13 

Rev. Charles S. Macfarland, General Sec- 
retary. 

III. Message from the French Protestant 

Committee, Presented by Chaplain 
Georges Lauga 20 

a. In the original French; h. In Eng- 
lish translation. 

IV. Message on the Four Hundredth Anni- 

versary OF THE Reformation, Pre- 
sented BY Chaplain A. E. Victor 
MoNOD 23 

a. In the original French; h. In English 
Translation. 

V. Address of Chaplain Monod 26 

VI. Address of Chaplain Lauga 28 

VII. Response 34 

Rev. Frank Mason North, President. 
7 



8 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

VIII. Expressions of Goodwill 39 

a. Rev. William I. Haven, General War- 

time Commission. 

b. President W. H. P. Faunce, Chairman, 

Commission on International Justice 
and Goodwill. 

c. Rev. William P. Merrill, Chairman, 

World Alliance for Promoting Inter- 
national Friendship through the 
Churches. 

d. Chaplain Nehemiah Boynton, U. S. A., 

representing the General Committee 
on Army and Navy Chaplains. 

IX. Message from the Churches of America 
TO THE Churches of France, Pre- 
sented BY THE General Secretary 55 

a. In the original English; b. In French 
translation^ 



INVOCATION 

BLESSED be Thy name, O Lord, our 
dwelling plaice in all generations, 
from everlasting to everlasting our 
God and Father. Our refuge and strength, 
our present help in trouble, unto Thee we 
chant our faith: *'the Lord God omnipotent 
reigneth; we will be glad and rejoice in 
Him." 

Our line is cast in the midst of the days 
when the foundations are rent asunder, when 
the mountains are hurled into the heart of the 
seas and the earth tossed to and fro as 
a hammock. Yet will we not fear, for in all 
our affliction Thou art afflicted and Thy pres- 
ence is our salvation. Clouds and darkness 
surround Thy throne, yet Thou seest the end 
from the beginning and makest the wrath of 
man to praise Thee. Blessed and holy art 
Thou, O God. Give us of Thy wisdom and 
strength that we may walk in the light of our 

9 



10 ', THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 

deepest convictions ; give us of Thy Spirit that 
we may love our enemies; give us of Thyself 
that we may magnify the cross of Christ our 
Lord and Redeemer. 

We thank Thee for citizens of France who 
brought our fathers new courage in their 
struggle for liberty, and for these men of 
God who are with us today and for the mes- 
sages they have brought us. We crave abun- 
dant blessing upon their labors, wrought amid 
much trial. We thank Thee for restoring 
them to health and now as they face home- 
ward we commend them to Thy keeping. Let 
their lives be precious in Thy sight and estab- 
lish them anew in their work in France. We 
thank Thee that we may bear one another's 
burdens and we beseech Thee for Armenia 
and Serbia, for Belgium and France and for 
all the lands despoiled and for that great na- 
tion, Russia. O God, our Father, bring again 
meat out of the eater and out of the strong 
sweetness. 

Bless all who are yielding their lives for 
the defense of liberty and righteousness. Give 
them vision of the unseen, with valor for the 
flags that float above their heads; give them 
passion for the right with power to overcome 



IN AMERICA AND FRANCE 11 

evil. Make them standard bearers for God 
and humanity and above their banners, as in 
their hearts, may they lift up the cross of 
Christ. Thou, who hast made of one all na- 
tions, hasten the day when the rulers of men 
shall be priests unto God, when brotherhood 
shall be established in the earth and peace 
grounded in righteousness and truth shall 
abide among all men. 

May the passions of war be swallowed up 
in the love of Christ and have mercy upon 
our enemies. Open their eyes that they may 
see how great sinners they have become 
against their own souls. Thou, whose punish- 
ment is so often pardon, whose revenge is so 
often redemption, whose rebuke is worth 
more than the praises of friends, Thou, who 
art rich in mercy, grant us forgiveness for 
our sins, cleanse our hearts from evil and en- 
rich us with grace and wisdom to destroy the 
things that rack us, that the things which can- 
not be shaken may appear and abide. 

We bless Thee for the Federal Council of 
the Churches of Christ in America, and for 
the Unions formed in and for France and 
Belgium to rebuild churches and homes and 
schools in these sadly broken countries. 



12 THE CHURCHES" OF CHRIST 

Clothe with grace the men and women thus 
enrolled In a common service for Christ and 
the people. Here and in the lands across the 
sea abundantly favor the plans made for the 
forwarding of this great work. 

Thou God of peace, who brought again 
from the dead our Lord Jesus the great shep- 
herd of the sheep, with the blood of an eter- 
nal covenant, make us perfect in every good 
work to do His will, working in us that which 
is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus 
Christ, unto the glory of the Father and the 
Son and the Holy Spirit. 

Our Father which art in heaven hallowed 
be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come, Thy will 
be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us 
this day our daily bread and forgive us our 
trespasses as we forgive those who trespass 
against us, and lead us not into temptation 
but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the king- 
dom and the power and the glory forever. 
Amen. 



INTRODUCTION OF THE 
DELEGATES 

Rev. Charles S. Macfarland 
General Secretary of the Federal Council 

TWO years ago, with the counsel and ad- 
vice of the officers of the Federal 
Council, I carried to our brethren of 
the Protestant churches in France a message 
of sympathy and goodwill and spent some 
time with them in prayer and conference. I 
had the opportunity of witnessing their brave 
efforts, their unquenchable spirit and of learn- 
ing something of their moral and spiritual In- 
fluence In the nation. 

In interviews with men high In the counsels 
of state, I was given earnest testimony re- 
garding their service In the nation. Indeed, 
it was clearly evident that through the devo- 
tion of the chaplains In the army and the 
spirit and work of the churches, the attitude 
of the French government and the French 
people towards religion had become more 

13 



14 THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 

deeply sympathetic. This testimony came 
from such men as the Premier, M. Briand, 
and the Minister of Finance, M. Ribot. In- 
deed, I found at the premier's right-hand, as 
his chief counsellor, Andre Weiss, President 
of the French Protestant Committee. 

As the result of that conference, upon my 
return I recommended that our churches help 
these brethren to continue their work by gifts 
of money, as well as by prayer and expres- 
sions of sympathy and during the past two 
years the churches have made, not an ade- 
quate but, perhaps, a fair response. In any 
event, it has been sufficient to win the deep 
gratitude of our French brethren. Constant 
fraternal correspondence has been continued 
since that time, which has been recorded in 
our annual and quadrennial reports. 

In November, 1917, they sent to us these 
two beloved brethren. It has been our privi- 
lege to bring them into conference with the 
official leaders of the churches located here 
in New York, to hold daily conferences with 
them in our own offices, to introduce them 
through the various church federations and 
ministerial associations to the churches and 
Christian people in Poughkeepsie, James- 



IN AMERICA AND FRANCE 15 

town, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cincin- 
nati, Chicago; Minneapolis, Kansas City, 
Omaha, Memphis, Dallas, Fort Worth, Den- 
ver, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Portland, San 
Francisco, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Philadel- 
phia, Boston and Washington, and to present 
them to the officials of our government at the 
national capital. 

One of them, worn by his faithful service 
In the trenches, fell by the wayside at Den- 
ver, where the church federation, in coopera- 
tion with the Christian people of Denver, had 
the privilege of ministering to his needs. 

Captain Monod was with us at the annual 
meeting of the Executive Committee in Cin- 
cinnati, stirring us by his words and helping 
us by his personal presence. 

As the result of the conferences and corre- 
spondence of these two years and especially 
of our consultation with these delegates to- 
gether with Dr. Henri Anet, Delegate of the 
Franco-Belgian Evangelization Committee, 
there has been constituted a Joint Committee 
uniting all the Protestant bodies In France 
and the religious bodies carrying on work In 
France and Belgium, called the United Com- 
mittee on Christian Service for Relief in 



16 THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 

France and Belgium. Its purposes are three- 
fold: 

1. To conserve and develop the Evangeli- 
cal Churches and Missions in France and Bel- 
gium; 

2. To further the interchange of thought 
and life between the religious forces of these 
three nations ; 

3. To render moral and financial support 
to the Evangelical Institutions and to the 
people of France and Belgium. 

The United Committee represents the fol- 
lowing organizations : 

Federation Protestante de France 

Comite Protestant Frangais 

Comite Protestant d'Entr'Aide 

Union Nationale des Eglises Reformees 
Evangeliques 

Union Nationale des Eglises Reformees 

Eglise Evangeliques Lutherienne de France 

Union des Eglises Evangeliques Libres 

Eglise Evangelique Methodiste 

Union des Eglises Baptistes 

Mission Frangaise Eglise Methodiste Epis- 
copate 

Societe Centrale Evangelique 



IN AMERICA AND FRANCE 17 

Eglise Chretienne Missionnaire Beige 
Mission Populaire Evangelique (McAll) 

Cooperating Bodies in the 
United States 

American McAll Association 
American Huguenot Committee 
American Baptist Foreign Mission Society 
Methodist Episcopal Board of Foreign Mis- 
sions. 

Captain Lauga and Captain Monod are 
here, on the eve of their departure to our 
brethren in France, to their regiments in the 
trenches, and not only that but to our own 
boys "over there." 

They came to us with these records of high 
attainment and faithful service: 

Alfred Ernest Victor Monod, of fourfold pastoral de- 
scent in the Reformed Church. The first of his pastor 
ascendants Gaspard Joel Monod, ordained in Geneva 
1742, was a minister in Guadeloupe (Antilles), 1759- 
1763. Grandnephew of the well-known French preacher, 
Adolphe Monod. 

Born in Algiers (French North Africa), March 27, 1882. 
B. Lit. 1899, Lie. phil. 1901, B. Div. 1905, Lie. Div. 1910. 
Has studied in the Universities of Toulouse and Mon- 
tauban, Marburg in Hessen (Germany), Aberdeen (Scot- 
land), where he was Assistant French Lecturer. Has been 
assistant Pastor in the Reformed Churches of Pau, Rouen, 



18 THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 

Paris. Ordained in Paris, Sept. 23, 1906. Pastor of the 
Reformed Evangelical Church of Pontarlier, near the 
Swiss frontier, 1 906-191 1, and of the Church of the same 
connection of Enghien-les-Bains, near Paris, since 1911. 
Appointed lecturer of Systematic Theology in the Sem- 
^aary of the Paris Board of Foreign Missions (1913). 

During the War: On the 5th of August, 1914, called 
as hospital attendant in a Surgery ward in Paris. Chap- 
lain in the Navy on the hospital Ship "Tchad," August, 
1915. The Dardanelles, Salonica, Albania (during Ser- 
bian retreat), Mytilene, Lemnos, Corfu, Tunis and Al- 
geria. Chaplain in the Army since June, 1917, with a 
Division of troops from North Africa. 

Author: "The Persecutors and the Martyrs," an essay 
of religious psychology, 1905; "The Problem of God," an 
historical essay, 1910; "De titulo Epistolae vulgo ad 
Hebraeos inscriptae," 1910; Contributor to Mags. "Revue 
de Theologie," "Foi et Vie," "Christianisme au XXe 
Siecle," etc. 

He married Mile. Germaine Bouvier in 1906. Four 
children complete his home. 

Georges Lauga^ born in Montcaret (Dordogne), Decem- 
ber 18, 1879; grandson of Eugene Casalis, missionary in 
Basutoland (South Africa), son of the late Henri Lauga, 
pastor in Rheims, delegate of the Protestant Churches to 
the Churches of Madagascar (1896). College studies in 
Rheims. B. Lit. Paris University, 1896. Student in Mon- 
tauban, Faculty of Theology, 1897-1902. B. Div. Toulouse 
University, 1902. Student of Laws (eight terms) Bordeaux 
University. 

Pastor of the French Church, Edinburgh (Scotland), 
1902-1903. Ordained in the Reformed Church of France, 
June 8, 1903. Pastor of the Reformed Church of Port Ste. 
Foy (Dordogne) 1903-1909. Pastor of the Reformed 
Church of Rouen since 1909 and President of the Presby- 



IN AMERICA AND FRANCE 19 

tery of that City. Member of Rouen Auxiliary Committee 
of the Paris Board of Foreign Missions. 

During the War: Field Ambulance attendant in the 
8th D. I. Military Chaplain in the 130th D. I. Lorraine, 
Verdun, (twice), slightly wounded and cited at the Order 
of the Brigade, awarded the Croix de Guerre; Argonne, 
Hauts-de-Meuse, Woevre, Chemin-des-Dames. 

Author: "Psychologoy of Religious Revivals"; "The 
Workman of Christ and his Visions"; "The Enemies of 
Youth"; "Dost thou know the peace the Gospel gives?"; 
"Toward the Light," (sermons) ; "How to come out of 
the Necropoles, or how to Evangelize"; "In Time of 
War," (ten sermons delivered in St. Eloi Church, Rouen, 
1914-1915). Contributor to Mags. "Revue du Christian- 
isme Social," "Foi et Vie," "Journal des Missions," etc. 

He married Mile. Paule Thenaud, of Port Ste. Foy. He 
has three children. 

Citations: General Toulorge, Commanding the i30t! 
D. I., has cited at the Order of the Brigade: Laug^ 
Georges, Chaplain of the Division. Being present in 1916 
at three different times in a conspicuously active sector of 
Verdun, has gone every day to the first line, that he 
might bring the men moral comfort, and has not wavered 
in exposing his life, giving thus in the midst of danger a 
fine example of coolness and courage. 

It is a joy to present them this evening. 



THE MESSAGES FROM FRANCE 

CoMiTE Protestant Francais 

I02 Boulevard Arago 

Paris (XlVe) 

Paris, Le ler Octobre 1917. 

Message Aux Chretiens D'Amerique 

Le Federation des Eglises Protestantes de France, le 
Comite Protestant Frangais, qui representent toutes nos 
eglises et toutes nos oeuvres religieuses, recommandent au 
cordial accueil et a I'appui des Chretiens d'Amerique nos 
deux delegues, M. le pasteur Georges Lauga, aumonier 
militaire, et M. le pasteur Victor Monod, aumonier de la 
marine. 

Leur mission, qui est purement fraternelle, a pourtant 
des buts precis. 

Nous desirons communier avec vous dans la foi et dans 
les grands souvenirs historiques ou se retrempent nos ener- 
gies lorsqu'il faut combattre pour conserver I'heritage de 
nos peres. 

Nous voudrions etablir entre vos eglises et les notres des 
liens intimes, une alliance indissoluble, se manifestant par 
des visites regulieres, par des envois d'etudiants, par des 
echanges de publications; tout cela devant nous permettre 
de suivre le mouvement religieux, theologique et social de 
nos milieux respectifs, et de donner des bases a une or- 
ganisation d'entr'aide, en vue de cooperer a la solution 
des problemes de demain. 

Nous voulons aussi exprimer notre reconnaissance pour 
vos secours de guerre, notre joie a vous sentir avec nous 

20 



THE^CHURCHES OF CHRIST 21 

pleinement et jusqu'au bout dans la lutte pour le droit, 
et notre fierte lorsque nous voyons prendre rang, parmi 
les glorieux defenseurs du sol de notre patrie, vos nobles 
et bien-aimes enfants, le meilleur de vous-memes. 

Pouvions-nous mieux f aire que de vous envoyer a travers 
I'ocean deux de nos fils, deux de nos pasteurs? lis ont 
servi nos eglises fidelement dans le ministere pastoral; ils 
ont ete les temoins de I'Evangile aupres de nos soldats dans 
les tranchees et aupres de nos marins en haute mer. Dieu 
veuille que leur activite au milieu de vous soit utile et 
bienf aisante ! 

Fortifions-nous mutuellement dans nos combats, dans nos 
sacrifices, pour que les opprimes regoivent reparation, pour 
que la liberte leur soit rendue, pour que la bonne volonte 
et la justice trioraphent dans un monde pacific; nous 
voulons que Pamour chretien soit le ciment d'une societe 
nouvelle des nations, ou les disciples du Christ seront, 
selon la parole du prophete, les "reparateurs des breches, 
ceux qui restaurent les chemins, et qui rendent la terre 
bonne a habiter." 

(signe) E. Gruner, 

Le President du Conseil de la Federation Protestante 
de France, Ingenieur Civil des Mines, Officier de la Legion 
d'Honneur. 

(signe) Andre Weiss, 

Le President du Comite Protestant Franqais, Membre 
de I'Institut, Officier de la Legion d'Honneur, Professeur de 
Droit International a VUni<versite de Paris. 

{Translation) 

Paris, October i, 1917. 

Message to the Christians in America. 

The Federation of the French Protestant Churches and 
the French Protestant Committee, which represent all our 



22 THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 

churches and all our religious works, recommend to the 
hearty welcome and help of the Christians in America our 
two delegates, Pastor Georges Lauga, chaplain in the 
army, and Pastor Victor Monod, chaplain in the navy. 

They are coming on a purely fraternal mission, with 
definite aims. 

We desire to enter in fellowship with you in the faith, 
in the great historical memories in which our energies find 
a new spirit when we have to fight for the maintenance 
of our fathers' heritage. 

We should like to establish, between your churches and 
ours, intimate links, an indissoluble covenant, by means of 
regular visits, mutual sending of students, exchanging of 
publications, which would allow us to follow the religious, 
theological and social movements in our respective circles, 
and to give bases to an organization of mutual help, with 
a view of cooperating in the solving of the problems of 
tomorrow. 

We want also to express our gratitude for your war 
relief, our joy in feeling you are with us fully and to the 
end in the struggle for the right, and our pride when we 
behold your noble and beloved sons, the best part of your- 
selves, taking their ranks among the glorious defenders of 
our native soil. 

Could we do any better than to send you, across the 
ocean, two of our sons, two of our pastors? They have 
been faithful servants of our churches in the pastoral 
ministry; they have been witnesses to the gospel among 
our soldiers in the trench line and among our sailors on 
the high sea. We pray God that their visit among you 
may be useful and full of blessing. 

Let us mutually strengthen ourselves in our struggles 
and in our sacrifices, that the oppressed ones may receive 
reparation, that liberty may be restored to them, that good- 
will and justice may be triumphant in a pacified world. 



IN AMERICA AND FRANCE 23 

We want Christian love to be the cement of a new society 
of the nations, in which the disciples of Christ will be, 
according to the words of the prophet, "The repairers of 
the breach, the restorers of paths, and those who niake the 
land goodly to dwell in." 

(Signed) E. Gruner, 

President of the Council of the Protestant Federation of 
France; Civil Engineer of the Mines; Officer of the JLegion 
of Honor. 

(Signed) Andre Weiss, 

President of the French Protestant Committee; Mem- 
ber of the Institute of France; Professor of International 
Laiv in the University of Paris; Officer of the Legion of 
Honor. 

Message for the Anniversary of the Protestant 
Reformation 

Paris, le 23 Septembre 1917 
41, Boulevard, Raspail. 

Monsieur le President et Honore Frere: 

Au jour ou les eglises d'Amerique celebreront I'anniver- 
saire quatre fois seculaire de la Reformation, nous nous 
unirons a vous en pensees et en prieres dans un sentiment 
de profonde reconnaissance envers Dieu. Comme nos 
grands ancetres, nous dirons: "a Lui seul soit la gloire," 
Deo soli gloria mais nous le benirons d'avoir suscite, dans 
des temps de tenebres, des temoins qui ont fait resplendir 
la lumiere de son Evangile. Ne regardant qu'au Christ 
leur seul chef, par la noblesse du caractere, la droiture 
de la conscience, I'ardeur de la piete, le zele de la verite, 
I'inflexible courage, ils furent des ouvriers de la grande 
oeuvre de la Reformation au XVIe siecle. 

Depuis, quatre siecles se sont ecoules et la plus sainte des 
victoires a recompense leur vie consacree a la plus sairjte 



24 THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 

des causes, celle que proclamait la premiere confession de 
foi de nos peres "maintenir I'honneur de Dieu en son 
entier" et par la meme les droits sacres de la conscience 
religieuse independante des puissances huraaines. 

Fideles de cette eglise reforraee de France, dont on a pu 
dire que par ses souffrances elle a ete la mater dolorosa 
des eglises de la Reformation, dans cette communion de 
pensees, nous ne pouvons oublier, surtout en des circon- 
stances si memorables, que nombreux parmi nos ancetres, 
furent ceux, qui fuyant la persecution, vinrent demander a 
I'Amerique la liberte de leur conscience. 

Les Huguenots de France ne pouvaient etre que les f reres 
des Puritains des Etats-Unis. Cette fraternite a uni nos 
eglises et elle se revelera plus puissante que jamais, dans 
ces jours solennels ou nos soldats etroiteraent unis sur les 
champs de bataille, combattront fideles a I'esprit de la 
Reformation, pour vaincre le despotisme en assurant la 
liberte et I'independance des nations. 

Veuillez, Monsieur le President, en souvenir de la cele- 
bration du quatrieme centenaire de la Reformation, ac- 
cepter un ouvrage consacre a I'activite religieuse du Pro- 
testantisme frangais au XIXe siecle et le recevoir aussi 
comme un temoignage de nos sentiments aussi fraterncls 
que distingues. 

(Signe) Frank-Puaux, 

President de la Societe de VHistoire du Protestantisme 
Franqais, 

{Free Translation) 

The Message of the French Protestant Churches at 

THE Celebration of the 

Four Hundredth Anniversary of the Reformation. 

At the time when the churches of America are observing 
the Four-hundredth Anniversary of the Reformation, we 
unite with them in thought and prayer, with a feeling of 



IN AMERICA AND FRANCE 25 

profound recognition of God. As our great ancestors have 
said to us, "To Him alone be the glory," who through them 
reflected the light of His gospel. Looking to Christ as their 
only leader, by the nobility of their character, the rule of 
conscience, the ardor of their piety, devotion to truth, and 
unyielding courage, they wrought the great work of the 
Reformation in the sixteenth century. 

For four centuries the most sacred of triumphs have 
rewarded their life, consecrated to the most holy causes, 
the safeguarding of God's majesty and the inviolability 
of the religious conscience above all human powers. 

The Reformed church of France, of whom it is true to 
say that by her sufferings she is the mater dolorosa of the 
Reformation, cannot forget, at this momentous hour, that 
many of those who bore persecution in that day, sought 
and found in America the freedom of their consciences. 

The Huguenots of France were the spiritual brothers of 
the Puritans of America. This brotherhood still unites the 
churches of France with the churches of America and this 
union is, at this moment, deepened and sanctified, as the 
defenders of our two nations, side by side, in the struggle 
for righteousness, are perpetuating the spirit of the refor- 
mation, in the overthrow of despotism and in securing 
freedom for all the nations. 



ADDRESS 

Chaplain A. E. Victor Monod 

A few words only; words of hope and con- 
fidence. During the war many lives, many 
buildings, many institutions have been de- 
stroyed. We came over here to build up 
new things in war-time — better understand- 
ings, more cooperation between French and 
American Churches, more effective work for 
our common Master. 

You are the sons of the Puritans. We are 
the sons of the Huguenots who were faithful 
through nearly two centuries of persecution. 
You are the oldest republic in the world. We 
French Protestants have been always, and 
especially in the i8th and the 19th centuries, 
the seed of democracy and freedom in 
France. 

Let us unite our common faith in Jesus 
Christ, the only name through which we may 
be saved, and our common faith in demo- 
cratic ideals and liberty. 

36 



THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 27 

At this hour of darkness and struggle, it 
IS truly good, it is truly comforting for us to 
find loval and sound friends in America. We 
may help you — we have told you of the 
devotion and the splendid spirit of our Chris- 
tian boys at the Front. You may help us by 
sympathy, by prayer, by effective cooperation 
with our war relief. A true friendship al- 
ways finds the best way to comfort and help 
the suffering. 

During three months I have traveled ten 
thousand miles in the United States. I have 
visited large and numerous cities from coast 
to coast. Everywhere I met the same en- 
thusiastic welcome — France has been worthy 
of civilization, French Protestant Churches 
have been worthy of Christianity — -and now 
your nation, your Christian people are eager 
to be side by side with us. 

May God bless America and France ! May 
the sufferings of the world soon be over ! But 
first of all may the liberty, and the Faith of 
the Puritans and the Huguenots be the cor- 
nerstone of the World of tomorrow. 



ADDRESS 

Chaplain Georges Lauga 

It is our privilege and our joy to give you, 
before our departure for France, our best 
Christian thanks. 

You have just heard what our mission in 
the United States meant and how great was 
our desire to enter into a closer relationship 
with the religious circles of your large coun- 
try. We can say without pride, but also 
without false shame that, thanks to God, our 
mission has fully succeeded. 

We know well that the first secret of that 
success lies in the remarkable help we have 
received from the Federal Council, — we are 
especially thankful to its active General Sec- 
retary, our friend. Dr. Charles S. Macfar- 
land. Dr. Macfarland, in the name of the 
French Huguenot Churches, we thank you. 
We shall never forget the way in which you 
and your offices have taken care of our mis- 
sion, and often, when soon we shall again be 

28 



THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 29 

with our soldiers in the trenches, the remem- 
brance will come to us of our helpful talks 
in your study. Our hearts are especially full 
of gratitude when we think of the new joint 
Committee, which is above all your work, 
and which will establish between your 
churches and ours, new links of a true, faith- 
ful and Christian friendship. 

We are sure that the formation of the 
new Committee comes at the strategic hour. 

We have seen, during our trip in this coun- 
try, from New York to Buffalo, from Detroit 
to Pittsburgh, from Philadelphia to Denver, 
from Washington to San Francisco, how 
deeply our Christian brethren love our dear 
France and our Protestant churches, not only 
for their suffering, but also for the silent and 
glorious way in which they accept the bearing 
of the heavy burden of this present war. 
Your people understand our needs and the 
duty of helping us in every way. The hearts 
of our friends in America are open, and 
ready for any kind of sacrifice, because they 
know that their sacrifices would never attain 
the grandeur and the religious meaning of 
ours. 

For a last time I want to insist upon two 



30 THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 

important points concerning the religious sit- 
uation in France. France is not at all an irre- 
ligious nation. War has not made our com- 
patriots more skeptical. If we have not em- 
broidered "a sacred heart" on our flags, nor 
engraved ''Gott mit uns" on our sword belt, 
we have been sustained from the beginning 
by ''the spiritual"; we have been led by the 
"eternal light." In brief, France is ready 
for a true religious awakening. 

We are persuaded that the greatest oppor- 
tunities are awaiting our French Protestant- 
ism and we agree absolutely with many of our 
French leaders who tell us that we can be 
the workers of a new Reformation, the leaven 
which leaveneth the whole lump. 

The French people are aware of the fact 
that our two greatest allies, America and 
England, are practically Protestant coun- 
tries. In France, also, as well as here or in 
England the Protestant people have always 
been the faithful and active representatives 
of democracy. 

We are ready in the churches for a more 
progressive Christianity, for a conception of 
the church which will make it prepare for Its 
educational and social task. For four hun- 



IN AMERICA AND FRANCE 31 

dred years French Protestantism has never 
had such wonderful possibilities as now. 

But at the same time, war has brought us 
a lot of tremendous difficulties; many of our 
churches are without ministers since half of 
them have enlisted. Many courageous 
women, wives of our enlisted ministers, are 
trying to take the plaices of their husbands : 
some of them are preaching every Sunday, 
but this situation can be only temporary. 

Also sixty of our choicest ministers and 
theological students have been killed; and we 
are awfully impoverished. 

You know the terrible situation of our re- 
ligious activities, still under the yoke of the 
conqueror; forty-six of our churches have 
been destroyed and burned, and the unhappy 
refugees who have arrived these last months 
in France from these desolated regions, 
whom we have received in our homes, starv- 
ing and having lost everything, tell us how 
difficult it will be to rebuild a normal life in 
these churches. We have our widows, our 
orphans to help. We need your help and 
know that you will never forget that Amer- 
ica, Democratic America, Protestant Amer- 
ica ought to help in France in every way, at 



32 THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 

this present hour, the descendents of the Hu- 
guenots, the Sons of the Reformation. 

Tomorrow we sail, and go back to our ser- 
vice in France, to live again with our dear 
boys in the mud of the trenches. We already 
have seen so often death falling near — oh, 
very near us — that we know well that it is 
possible we may soon rejoin in the Father's 
house many of our dearest friends. We shall 
be happy to say with one of our young Chris- 
tian soldiers, *'They do not take my life, I 
give it for Peace, for the peaceful Kingdom 
of Christ on earth." 

We ask God to keep us faithful until the 
end in the spirit of another soldier, who 
wrote to his father a few days before he died, 
"You know, daddy, that I am ready because 
for me the beauty of a life is more than life 
itself." 

But before that, and since it is for the 
last time, perhaps on this earth, that we 
meet you, dear friends, allow us to believe 
that our stay in America will not be use- 
less; allow us to tell in our churches and 
at the front, "Our Christian brothers in 
America love us ; they are in full communion 
with us ; they are ready to take their share of 



IN AMERICA AND FRANCE 33 

our suffering and also of our hopes. Like us 
they will never be downhearted, because like 
us they are persuaded that neither war, nor 
death, nor life shall be able to separate us 
from the love of God, which is in Christ 
Jesus, our Lord.'* 



RESPONSE TO THE CHAPLAINS 

Rev. Frank Mason North 
President of the Federal Council 

YOU bring welcome messages from our 
brothers of the Protestant Churches 
of France. With satisfaction and 
solicitude we have heard the words which 
they have sent to the churches of America. 

You, however, are yourselves, their mes- 
sage. You embody both their greeting and 
their appeal. To have had you with us dur- 
ing these months past has quickened our 
patriotism and reenforced our faith. Bear to 
them the expression of our gratitude that they 
sent you : receive for yourselves our gratitude 
that you came. 

In you, in the land and churches to which 
you so soon return, there is a significance 
which cannot escape even the dull and indif- 
ferent. You freshen our memory of days of 
delight in your romance. Your historians are 
the fellows of the great masters upon our 

34 



THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 35 

shelves. Your noble preachers, some indeed 
not Protestant, but all French, have been an 
inspiration in our thinking. In the charm 
of your art, the gaiety of your life, the ardor 
of your valor, we have not failed to find the 
deep springs of your spirituality. It would 
be idle in this hour to attempt to tell you 
what France, as an ally in the day of our own 
struggle for liberty, as a land to which pil- 
grims of art and literature eagerly turn their 
feet, as the scene of those contests for reli- 
gious liberty which ever challenge the admira- 
tion of the world, has meant to the group of 
her friends gathered here tonight. To the 
formal message which we shall ask you to 
bear to the churches which you represent, let 
me add, on behalf of this company and of 
the American churches, the warmth of a deep 
and affectionate admiration for France. 

We are mindful that you are here as Cap- 
tains. You incarnate patriotism. You are 
of the army for the defense of your fair land 
and for victory over those who would tram- 
ple its ideals under the iron heel. Patriotism 
is not a national trait. Its high call has been 
heard down the centuries. It does not know 
latitude or longitude. It was at home at 



36 THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 

Thermopylae, at Bunker Hill, at the Marne. 
Its compulsion has built tribes into nations 
and guarded for men the product of their 
travail. In these days of alliance in the enter- 
prises of righteousness — the patriotisms of 
the many merge into one patriotism. Your 
great rallying cry, — Liberte, Egalite, Frater- 
nite, — rings down the battle lines where Brit- 
ish, French, American, Italian are alike en- 
during hardship as good soldiers, to make it 
real for the whole world. Freedom, Equal 
rights. Brotherhood, these are the ideals to 
which the patriotism of every real democ- 
racy aspires. For these we share your pas- 
sion and your peril. 

And you are Chaplains ! Your patriotism 
is not alien to your faith. Well we know that 
the true liberty comes only when the Son has 
made men free, that it is He who established 
the basis of equality when He made of one 
every nation of men to dwell on all the face 
of the earth, that when He said "Thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself," He gave 
brotherhood to humanity. Yours is that 
wider patriotism that stands not for France 
alone, but for the Kingdom of God. Your 
fathers of the Huguenot churches, as the Pil- 



IN AMERICA AND FRANCE 37 

grims of our own early American life, fought 
and suffered for principles which now are 
girdling the earth. The issues of the present 
world conflict are spiritual and you, men of 
the spirit as well as men of the army, are 
bringing to the world the challenge to faith 
. — as truly as you bring to France the chal- 
lenge to patriotism. 

May you have safe transit across the seas 
of danger! You will assure the churches of 
France of the pledges of fellowship which 
here we give you. You will promote that 
Federation of the Protestant forces which 
will bring into harmonious cooperation all 
those religious organizations which can by 
their constitution act together. You will find 
again your place with your regiments and to 
your valor, please God, will be added victory, 
to your faith, the spiritual conquest of your 
beloved France and the world. 

Will you permit me as a final word to give 
you the lines familiar to us here, written by 
a true lover of your country, a stalwart son 
of our own, who, intolerant of the wrongs 
done to Belgium and to France, has put his 
love and indignation into verses that will live. 
Many months ago Henry Van Dyke wrote: 



38 THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 

Give us a name to fill the mind 
With the shining thoughts that lead mankind, 
The glory of learning, the joy of art, — 
A name that tells of a splendid part 

In the long, long toil and the strenuous fight 
Of the human race to win its way 
From the feudal darkness into the day 
Of Freedom, Brotherhood, Equal Right 
A name like a star, a name of light. 
I give you France! 

Give us a name to stir the blood 

With a warmer glow and a swifter flood, — 

A name like the sound of a trumpet clear, 

And silver sweet, and iron-strong. 
That calls three million men to their feet. 
Ready to march and steady to meet 
The foes that threaten that name with wrong — 
A name that rings like a battle song. 
I give you France! 

Give us a name to move the heart, 
With the strength that noble griefs impart, 
A name that speaks of the blood outpoured 
To save mankind from the sway of the sword, — 

A name that calls on the world to share 
In the burden of sacrificial strife 
When the cause at stake is the world's free life 
And the rule of the people everywhere, — 
A name like a vow — a name like a prayer. 
I give you France! 



EXPRESSIONS OF GOODWILL 

William I. Haven, 

Representing the General War-Time 
Commission 

WHY should the part speak when the 
whole has spoken? After these 
comprehensive words of the Presi- 
dent of the Federal Council, it seems hardly 
necessary that anything should be said from 
the Commissions which carry out its work 
and yet, I am very glad to have this oppor- 
tunity to bring greetings of appreciation and 
goodwill to our brothers from France who 
are so soon to return. 

I am privileged to speak for the War-Time 
Commission of the Federal Council. You 
have all observed hanging low in the western 
Heavens just after sunset in these recent 
weeks, a wondrously beautiful star, part of 
the time the crescent moon was just above it. 
I heard the other day a delightful story of a 
little girl who, walking home with her 

39 



40 THE CHURCHES OF CimiST 

mother, pointed to the star and said 
"Mother is that God's Service Star?" He 
has His Service Star. He understands the 
meaning of this sacrifice in the warfare 
against sin, and I greet you first of all as 
brothers in the ranks of those who follow 
after the great Leader of our sacrificial hosts. 
"He spared not His own son," as the Apos- 
tle says, and "He that spared not His own 
son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall 
He not with Him also freely give us all 
things." We may have suffering, we may 
have death, but we shall have victory, and it 
is a glorious privilege to be in this warfare 
as followers together of Jesus Christ our 
Lord. 

I am speaking to you for the War-Time 
Commission that represents, as you know, the 
united program of the service of the Churches 
composing the Federal Council, and we 
must never forget that it is the Churches 
that are backing the most vital movements of 
the war. It is the Churches that sent out the 
Chaplains, like yourselves, who are the foun- 
dations of spiritual guidance and comfort 
among the troops up to the last moment, 
authorized by the Government for this ser- 



IN AMERICA AND FRANCE 41 

vice. It IS the Churches that select and tare 
for the voluntary workers that assist the 
Chaplains in the cantonments and that serve 
in the regions about the camps, and it should 
never be forgotten that it is the Churches 
that are the creators and supporters of the 
Young Men's Christian Association and the 
Young Women's Christian Association. It is 
from the Churches and those who are the 
constituent members of the Churches that 
these large sums for the work of these asso- 
ciations have been raised. It is the Churches 
that support the Red Cross and the camp 
activities that are making for the moral pro- 
tection of the environment of our armies. 
Even where substantial contributions come 
from those that are members of the 
Churches, in innumerable instances it is the 
spirit of the Churches in the communities that 
creates this enthusiastic giving of these vast 
sums for all these causes. The Churches are 
the reservoirs where burn and whence flame 
forth the fires of patriotism and that larger 
patriotism that counts all who love liberty as 
fellow-citizens. I bring to you the goodwill 
and greeting of all these Churches working 
together in their War-Time Commission, 



42 THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 

We recognize that there is a loyalty that 
is larger than Protestantism, but it is entirely 
proper that I should bring to you, as I do 
out of my heart, especially the greetings and 
goodwill of your Protestant brethren. You 
are Huguenots, a name that kindles the imag- 
ination of all Protestants. We realize this 
sympathy. It was very interestingly brought 
to my mind the other day in a letter which 
came to the Bible House from a French Chap- 
Iain. (You must pardon my pronunciation, 
though one of my mother's grandmothers 
was a French lady, a fact of which I am very 
proud, the family being a part of my sister's 
name. The inheritance of blood which makes 
me a peculiar kinship to you, has not brought 
with it fluency in the use of the mother 
tongue). This Chaplain, Mons. Faivre, was 
trying to help a soldier who was going back 
to the trenches and who wished to get in 
touch with some one who could sympathize 
with him and encourage him. The Chaplain 
thought of one of the under officers where he 
was going to serve who was a Huguenot. He 
knew this officer would be friendly and help- 
ful to this soldier in spiritual things. He de- 
scribed to the soldier the officer, but when 



IN AMERICA AND FRANCE 43 

the soldier arrived he found before him two 
or three under officers and he could not tell 
certainly which was the Huguenot and he 
therefore used this strategy: He passed along 
humming the words of what I am told Is a 
familiar hymn among the Huguenots, begin- 
ning "Debout! Sainte Cohorte." One of the 
officers immediately was attentive and after 
a little separated himself from his com- 
panions and followed the soldier and they 
had many precious hours together. So we by 
hymn and prayer would place ourselves with 
you and rejoice in all that you can accom- 
plish as fellow Christians and especially as 
members of this Protestant Household of 
Faith. 

Let me further say that we want you when 
you go back to tell all friends that we are 
coming. There used to be a song that our 
American armies sung 50 years ago in our 
Civil War when Abraham Lincoln was Presi- 
dent of the United States, that was something 
like this, "We are coming Father Abraham 
a hundred thousand strong." Now 100,000 
is not of much account today. We have got- 
ten by thousands in our enumeration either 
of men or money. Nobody thinks anything 



44 THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 

now of thousands. Nothing less than a mil- 
lion is of any account; so I will change the 
words of our old war-time song and say, *'We 
are coming a million, five million, yes, if 
necessary, ten million strong to help you win 
the battles of liberty and righteousness.'* I 
wish that we could come by land. I wish that 
this sea was swallowed up and our engineers 
could lay their rails so that we could move 
these millions swiftly into battle front. The 
brightest light of literature, perhaps, in the 
19th century, your own great poet, Victor 
Hugo, has told, as no one else has told, of the 
perils of the sea, but he little knew the terrors 
of this day. May God keep you safe in your 
homeward journey and soon make it possible 
that this calamity may be passed and that our 
men may be with you by safe voyages, stand- 
ing in the common ranks against the common 
foe. 

Let me also say what you may not believe 
to be the fact as you have observed us here 
through these few months, we are coming 
with "humility." I know this is not recog- 
nized by every one to the crowning charac- 
teristic of us Americans, but it is more de- 
scriptive of our true feeling than might be 



IN AMERICA AND FRANCE 45 

supposed. We know what you have done. 
We realize the valor and bravery of France. 
We have heard of your young officers, one of 
whom the other day called to his men in 
the trenches," Come on, fellows, they make 
little holes in us but they don't hurt 1" In all 
these awful years of war there has never been 
a word in America that has thrown a shadow 
of question on the bravery of the armies of 
France. We are coming to share with you 
and to learn from you and to emulate these 
virtues. Take with you we beseech you our 
hearts' greetings and be assured that you will 
be remembered constantly in our thoughts 
and prayers. 

President's Office, Brown University, 

Providence, R. I., January i6, 1918. 
My dear Dr. Macf arland : 

I am most sorry I cannot break an engagement pre- 
viously made for next Tuesday evening. I have no doubt 
you will have a very delightful occasion. I wish I could 
greet those delegates from French Protestant churches and 
in the name of the Commission on International Justice 
and Goodwill could stretch hands across the sea. If I 
could be present I should call attention to the name of 
the Commission which I represent. That name indicates 
that we are seeking something deeper than devices and 
expedients — that we are seeking for those qualities in 



46 THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 

individual and national life which are the bed-rock of 
humanity. We are not seeking simply for arbitration of 
disputes, not merely for peace which may last for a time, 
not merely for an international court or legislature, which 
may or may not endure, not merely for treaties which 
may or may not prove effective; but we are seeking for 
justice among all nations great and small, and for that 
goodwill without which treaties and courts are vain. Let 
us keep close to the fundamentals of individual and na- 
tional life. 

Near my home in Providence is Rochambeau Avenue, 
where during the American Revolution the troops of 
Comte de Rochambeau pitched their tents when they came 
to the relief of America. In the oldest hall of Brown Uni- 
versity, built in 1770, there was a hospital for the French 
troops, while our students scattered over the land. Now 
our students in large numbers have crossed the sea to 
encamp on French soil and do something to repay the 
great debt we owe to Lafayette and the men of his day. 
Please greet the delegates for me, and for every member 
of the Commission assure them that they have our good- 
will, and that some day they shall have the justice which 
now they seek. Sincerely yours, 

(signed) W. H. P. Faunce, 
(Chairman of the Commission on International Justice 
and Goodwill). 



Rev. William P. Merrill, 

President of the American Council of the 
World Alliance for Promoting Interna- 
tional Friendship Through the 
Churches. 

IT Is an honor to have any part in such a 
meeting as this which recognizes and 
emphasizes the close ties which bind the 
Republic of France to the Republic of the 
United States of America. 

But even more significant and important is 
another alliance which unites us. It is far 
older, broader, and more honorable. It is 
the fellowship of those who share the Chris- 
tian faith in Jesus Christ, the Christian hope 
for the coming of the Kingdom of God, and 
the Christian love for all men everywhere. 
We are coming to realize today as never 
before that Christianity is essentially inter- 
national. Its Founder told His followers to 
"go and make disciples of all nations," gath- 
ering them into one great brotherhood. With 

47 



48 THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 

all its values, the Reformation brought cer- 
tain harmful results, which have not as yet 
been overcome. Chief among them is the 
splitting of Christendom into groups, — 
churches bounded by national limits, by sec- 
tional limits, by class distinctions. We need 
to recover the lost sense that Christianity is 
a super-nationalistic movement. 

This forms one profound reason why we 
feel so sure that the interests of Christianity 
for the future lie with those nations with 
which we have cast our lot in the present con- 
flict. For one of the deep issues dividing 
Germany from the rest of the world is the 
issue between nationalism and inter-national- 
ism. Germany bases her policy on an aggres- 
sively nationalistic philosophy, while on the 
other side a sense of internationalism is 
steadily deepening and broadening. 

America, more perhaps than any other na- 
tion, possesses a voice, a spokesman who can 
interpret and express the best feelings and 
aims of the people. We cannot claim that 
America is all that President Wilson indi- 
cates; but at least he sets forth what we 
would like to be. A pregnant sentence ut- 



IN AMERICA AND FRANCE 49 

tered by him some two years ago lingers In 
the mind: "America asks nothing for herself 
which she does not seek for all mankind." 
That is the spirit the world needs on the part 
of every nation. The real and satisfying end 
of the war, the true victory, will come not 
merely when Germany is defeated on the bat- 
tlefield, but when Germany is converted to 
that view of her relation to the rest of the 
world. When Germany can say, "Germany 
seeks nothing for herself which she does not 
seek for all mankind," the world will be se- 
cure in her presence. 

In this establishment of an international 
spirit the churchmen should lead. And their 
leadership will come through their recovery 
of the lost or weakened sense of the interna- 
tional character of Christianity. From a let- 
ter written by an unknown Christian about 
the middle of the second century of our era 
come words revealing clearly the true view: 
"Christians are distinguished from other men 
neither by country nor language nor customs. 
Every foreign country is to them a father- 
land. What the soul Is to the body, that 
Christians are to the world. The soul Is im- 



50 THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 

prisoned In the body, yet it holds the body to- 
gether. And Christians are scattered through- 
out the world, yet they hold the world to- 
gether. God has assigned them this illus- 
trious function, which it were unlawful for 
them to forsake." 

Because internationalism means so much to 
Christianity I rejoice to stand here tonight as 
a representative of a movement based on the 
conviction that Christianity is essentially 
international. The World Alliance of 
Churches for International Friendship con- 
tains but a small number of Christian people ; 
but they are found In every country of Chris- 
tendom, groups icommitted to the conviction 
that their Christianity takes precedence of all 
other causes in its demand upon their loyalty. 
It is significant that we have tonight at this 
one table Christian men from three great 
continents, Europe, Asia, and America, bound 
together by a common faith, hope, and love. 
May this meeting symbolize our brightest 
hope and fondest dream, that of a free and 
friendly world, knit together by innumerable 
ties, but this tie the strongest of all, our 
fellowship in Christ Jesus; that once more, 



IN AMERICA AND FRANCE 51 

and as never before, Christians may dis- 
charge their ^'illustrious function," assigned 
them of God," which it were unlawful for 
them to forsake," the function of ''holding 
the world together." 



Chaplain Nehemiah Boynton, 

United States Army, Representing the Gen- 
eral Committee on Army and Navy 
Chaplains 

IT is certainly a quick pleasure and no in- 
significant honor, my comrades, to be 
permitted to say a word of cordial 
God-speed as you return to your own country. 

We hope that in your American experi- 
ences you have become fully persuaded of 
the spirit and purpose of our country and 
that underneath what may seem to the super- 
ficial observer a light and trivial spirit, you 
have found the solid and adamantine reso- 
luteness, which will not retire from the pres- 
ent undertaking, whatever the cost or the 
delay, till the principles of righteousness and 
justice shall be acknowledged and obeyed in 
those seats of the mighty where now they are 
played like pawns, in the interest of oppor- 
tune politics or national necessities. 

America cannot forget France, nor can we 
be unmindful of her service to us in the great 

52 



THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 53 

and embarrassing experiences of the Revolu- 
tionary War. 

Our youth still find the instinct and the 
courage of lofty patriotism in the memory of 
the brilliant Lafayette, who with a small 
company of like-minded spirits, with a fiery 
enthusiasm for our cause, named with a fine 
idealism their ship "Victory" and sailed 
across the seas offering the sacrifice of their 
enthusiastic services to America in her hour 
of need. Today the American, with the spirit 
of Lafayette in his heart is sailing back again 
to France, reciprocating both the earnest love 
and gallant courage, as he fights side by side 
with her and to the end, to conquer, "the 
snake, which sprawls yet unconquered on the 
world highway" and to establish the safety 
zone of democracy. 

As a chaplain in the army of the United 
States I give to you, my comrades, a 
brother's hand. Ours is a common task, and 
a common spirit. Together by our services 
and our sacrifices, we must make true re- 
ligion so real, so vital, so manly, that in the 
royal fellowship of Christ men will be eagerly 
brave in any adventure with life, while happy 
and expectant in any meeting with death. It 



54 THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 

Is ours to make religion, whose deepest impli- 
cations are closely related to the conclusion of 
this war, indeed a strong tower to the men 
who fight for the glorious realization. 

May calm seas and sun-filled skies attend 
you my comrades, on your homeward way: 
may you be delivered from all accident and 
harm: and if God will, may it be our com- 
mon joy to meet again upon the fields of 
France, in the service of the great King for 
the comforting and spiritual strength of our 
invincible armies I 



THE MESSAGE TO FRANCE 

A Message to the Federation of French Protestant 
Churches and the French Protestant Committee, from 
the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in 
America. 

Dear Brethren: 

We have received with gratitude and joy, your mes- 
sage and your messengers. Your epistle has been con- 
veyed to all our churches, and to its bearers. Chaplain 
Georges Lauga and Chaplain A. E. Victor Monod, we 
have sought to accord our best hospitality and the largest 
opportunity for a hearing before our people. 

Your nation has been, for more than a century, bound 
to ours by the ties of your service to us and to the 
world and of our gratitude and ailectlon for you. Hu- 
guenot history has always been a source of deep inspira- 
tion and stimulation to our pastors, our churches and 
our people. 

During recent years, our two nations have been, by 
the hand of God, united in a solemn league and cove- 
nant which we trust and profoundly believe will endure 
beyond our union in conflict for common ideals of truth 
and freedom, and will forever bind us together in the 
coming brotherhood of free nations and peoples which is 
the end we now seek to secure by our unity in sacrifice. 

Your sacrifices have been in our behalf and are our 
heritage. May your suffering become the burden of our 
hearts. 

By the closer union of your evangelical bodies and by 
the common agreement of those among us in cooperation 
with you, it is our earnest hope that we may enlist our 
churches in deeper sympathy, in prayer and in material 

55 



56 THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 

help in the work of reconstructing your own churches and 
by this means, of rebuilding the waste places of your 
beloved land, so that its countenance may once more fit- 
tingly express the gracious spirit of your people as its 
devastation now bears witness to the undying soul of your 
nation. We shall endeavor to keep in sight of our 
churches, your unmeasured needs, in the midst of the 
sometimes confusing multitude of missionary and humani- 
tarian appeals now beseeching their support. 

You are relatively few in number, but the Kingdom of 
God is not measured in these terms; it is like the leaven 
hid in many measures of meal. We enter into no debate 
concerning those of other faith in your land; our mood 
is constructive, but we believe, that as in centuries past, 
your faith has given light to your people, so the future 
has a divine mission for your churches. 

From our knowledge of your history, going back for 
centuries, for the story that comes to us daily from those 
of our nation, our soldiers, our physicians, our nurses 
whose high privilege it is to serve with you, from the 
lips of our own representative who met in prayer and 
conference with you two years ago, we have learned of 
your faithful ministrations in sacrifice, in service, in guid- 
ing and inspiring your nation. 

Your messengers have been the personal embodiment of 
these sentiments. They have imparted to us the moral and 
spiritual atmosphere which has sustained you and your 
people; they have fulfilled the word of the great Apostle 
and have let all bitterness be put away from them that 
the fruit of the spirit might abound. They have ever been 
found among us speaking the truth in love, but ever 
faithfully speaking the truth. 

Our own ideals have been made clearer to us and the 
spirit of our own faith deepened and our loyalty inspired 
for the cause which unites us, by their message, and eVer 
more by the messengers themselves. We believe you were 



IN AMERICA AND FRANCE 



57 



guided by the spirit and the hand of God in the choice 
of your apostles to us. We have deeply sorrowed that 
one of them came to us broken in health, worn by his 
faithful service, and yet, at the same time, we have re- 
joiced in the privilege of prayer in his behalf and of min- 
istering to him with our own hands and are happy we 
can return him to you stronger than when he came. 

Our plans for furthering the interchange of thought 
and life between the religious forces of our nations and 
our hopes for the conservation and development of your 
evangelical churches and missions, they will make known 
to you. We respond heartily to the splendid proposals 
of your message. We trust that in days to come we may, 
in some measure, repay the debt we owe to your nation 
and to your churches, an account whose interest has been 
for centuries accumulating and which we can never over- 
take. 

May God grant that as we are now in some measure 
the partaker of your sufferings, we may in the better 
days share with you in the triumph of justice, freedom 
and holy love. 

In behalf of the churches, 

The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in 

America, 

President, 




General Secretary* 



58 THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 

Un Message a la Federation des Eglises protestantes frati' 
Raises, et au Co mite protestant franqais du Federal 
Council of the Churches of Christ in America. 

Chers freres, 

C'est avec joie et reconnaissance que nous avons regu 
votre message et vos messagers. Votre epitre a ete remise 
a toutes nos Eglises, et nous avons essaye de donner a 
vos delegues, Chapelain Georges Lauga et Chapelain 
A. E. Victor Monod et notre meilleure hospitalite, et le 
plus grand nombre possible d'occasions de se faire en- 
tendre de notre peuple. 

Depuis plus d'un siecle, votre nation a ete unie a la notre 
par les liens qu'ont none les services que vous avez rendus 
au monde, liens qu'ont resserres notre affection et notre 
reconnaissance. L'histoire des Huguenots a toujours ete 
pour nos pasteurs, nos eglises et notre peuple, la source 
de profonde inspiration et nous a servi de stimulant. 

Ces derniers temps, nos deux nations, par la main 
meme de Dieu, ont ete unies par un contrat, et par une 
alliance solennels, lesquels, nous en avons la profonde 
certitude, dureront au dela de notre union dans le confiit 
qui nous fait lutter pour un ideal commun de verite 
et de liberte; ce lien ne pourra que se resserrer dans la 
fraternite future de nations et de peuples libres; c'est le 
but que nous poursuivons par notre unite dans le sacrifice. 

Vos sacrifices ont ete faits en notre nom; ils sont notre 
heritage; puissent vos souffrances devenir le fardeau de 
nos coeurs ! 

Par I'intime union de vos diverses denominations evan- 
geliques, et par le consentement mutuel de ceux qui parmi 
nous cooperent avec vous, nous avons le ferrae espoir de 
pouvoir, par une profonde sympathie, par la priere et par 
le secours materiel, enroler nos eglises dans I'cEuvre de 
reconstruction de vos propres eglises, et par ce moyen 



IN AMERICA AND FRANCE 59 

rebatir les regions devastees de votre patrie bien-aimee 
afin que, une fois de plus, elle soit la juste expression 
de I'esprit genereux de votre peuple, de meme que la 
devastation temoigne encore de I'ame immortelle de votre 
nation. N'ous nous efforcerons de representer a nos 
Eglises vos besoins illiraites, au milieu de la multiplicite, 
parfois embarrassante, d'appels de missionnaires et 
d'humanitaries qui recherchent aujourd'hui leur appui. 

Vous etes relativement petits par le nombre; mais le 
Royaume de Dieu n'est pas mesure en ces termes; c'est 
comme le levain dans la pate. Nous n'entrerons dans 
aucun debat concernant ceux d'une autre confession de 
foi dans votre pays; ce que nous voulons, c'est con- 
struire; nous croyons que, de meme que dans les siecles 
passes votre foi a eclaire votre peuple, Tavenir reserve 
a vos Eglises une mission divine. 

Ce n'est pas seulement en contemplant les siecles 
passes de votre histoire que nous avons eu conscience de 
votre fidelite dans le sacrifice et I'obeissance au devoir; 
jour apres jour, nous en avons eu I'echo par le temoignage 
de ceux des notres, nos soldats, nos medecins, nos garde- 
malades, qui ont eu le privilege de servir avec vous, et 
par les levres memes de notre representant qui, il y a 
deux ans, vous a rencontres en conference et aussi en 
priere. 

Vos messagers ont personnalise vos sentiments, lis 
nous ont fait sentir I'atmosphere morale et spirituelle qui 
vous a soutenus, vous et votre peuple, ils ont realise la 
parole du grand Apotre, "Ayant rejete toute amertume 
afin que I'Esprit de Dieu abonde." Toujours ils ont ete 
trouves portant la verite avec amour, mais fidelement 
disant la verite. 

Ces messagers plus encore que leur message, ont rendu 
plus clair a nous memes notre ideal,; I'esprit de notre foi 
s'est approfondi a leur contact et notre loyaute pour la 



60 THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST 

cause qui nous unit a ete ravivee. Nous croyons que vous 
avez et6 conduits par I'esprit et la main de Dieu dans 
le choix de vos Apotres parmi nous. Nous avons ete 
profondement affliges que Tun d'eux nous arrivat atteint 
dans sa sante, par le fait de sa fidelite au service de sa 
patrie, et neanmoins nous avons ressenti le privilege de 
prier pour lui et de le soigner de nos propres mains. 
Nous sommes heureux de pouvoir vous le renvoyer plus 
robuste qu'il n'etait a son arrivee. 

lis vous diront quels sont nos plans d'echange de pensee 
et de vie entre les forces religieuses de nos nations; ils 
vous traduiront notre espoir de voir vos Eglises 
evangeliques se perpetuer et se developer vos Eglises 
evangeliques et vos missions. Nous repondons de 
tout coeur aux propositions splendides de votre message. 
Nous avons la ferme confiance que dans les temps futurs, 
nous pourrons en quelque mesure nous acquitter de la 
dette que nous devons a votre nation et a vos eglises, dette 
dont les interets se sont accumules pendant des siecles et 
que nous ne pourrons jamais couvrir. 

Dieu veuille que, de meme que nous sommes en quelque 
mesure participant a vos souifrances, nous puissions en 
des jours meilleurs partager avec vous le triomphe de la 
justice, de la liberte et de I'amour. 

Au nom des Eglises 

The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ, 

Frank Mason North 
Le President, 

Charles S. Macfarland 
Le Secretaire-General 



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